Has anyone here taken the trans Siberian railway? How was it?

Not OP but I'm strongly considering doing that this summer.
Any personal experiences would be great.

I'm going this July from Moscow to Vladivostok. When are you going Anon? I don't have first hand experience obviously, but have done most of my planning if you have any specific questions OP. For a 18 day trip across with stops I'm looking at about 3k USD including visa costs.

I'm saving up for a big trip in a few years, road trip through eastern Europe, then transsiberian to Beijing, then train through southern China.
Gonna be long and costly, but I rally wanna experiment the trans siberian, and since it's a week long by itself I might as well slow-travel the whole thing.

>>1050366
My boyfriend was murdered because of that train.

>>1050838
Story?

Try Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazaar' - it is obviously dated now but relevant

I did it in 2008, via Vladivostok to Beijing.

I do recommend it, I intend on doing it again at some point. Not sure I'm able to provide any current information, but here's some food for thought.

-Make sure you can stand your travel companions 24/7 for up to 9 days, straight. There isn't any place to escape if you can't.
- I recommend the higher class, with 2-bed compartments. They offer privacy, headroom, and you can leave your luggage around.

Pack a few spare rags to clean your window, either in Moscow before the train leaves, or during one of the stops. You'll get much better photos that way.
- treats, games, books. Bring snacks. Bring a good book or two, bring playing cards or a portable board game. There is nothing much to do on the train, which is part of the appeal at least to me.
- There is hot water available at all times, from a machine in each car, so bring instant coffee, cocoa powder and teabags. Cup-a-soup or instant noodles are easy snacks. I can't really recommend the restaurant car, except as an experience (although this might have changed), until you get to China (there the restaurant car was excellent). When the train stops at a station, you can run to the platform and purchase fruits, local breads and baked goods, bottles of coke and tobacco from grandmothers with trolleys. But that's pretty much it, sometimes the stops are no more than 5 minutes, so there's no time to go grab anything else.
- Flip flops. The only "shower" on the train is in the toilet. A collapsible camping sink might not be bad either. You want to have something between your feet and the wet floor.

If you have the time, and the price difference isn't too excessive, make a stop or two along the way. Irkutsk is the biggest city, I think, but I liked the tiny villages along the route better. But if you can't, probably not a big deal, there wasn't anything unmissable, imho.

>>1050366
I don't recommend, the nature in Russia is so incredibly beautiful, don't waste your time on a train, go to the Ural mountains, Altai, around lake Baikal, Kamchatka, Chukotka... etc etc.

Also: transsib is becoming a tourist trap, don't fall for it

>>1050976
> I liked the tiny villages along the route better. But if you can't, probably not a big deal, there wasn't anything unmissable, imho.

So you missed a lot, meh, your miss

>>1050979
Probably, I spent I think 8 extra days en route, a few days in Irkutsk, a few days in two tiny villages and a few days hiking and camping...

...and fully admitting that every moment we live is an unique one, never to be repeated, and around every corner are countless possibilities just waiting to be experienced, there wasn't anything mindblowing (unlike in China, and just my opinion)...

But for my second go, I'd like your recommendations.

I took the train from Moscow to Vladivostok in August and had an amazing experience.

As far as cost goes I rode platzkart which is pretty much third class and my tickets ended up only adding up to about 400 dollars. If you went direct it could cost just over half of that but I stopped in many cities along the way which meant buying separate tickets for the entire route

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I had a trip planned for this coming summer but I slacked on planning and not going to have enough money for it :(

Few things to keep in mind. Flying into or out of Vladivostok is pretty expensive, at least from what I've been able to find. The Visa situation if you're american is pretty difficult as well. Takes a lot of paper work and time to process it all. From what I learned is you basically need someone to invite you into the country. This can happen through a tour group but you'll have to pay extra and would be stuck with the tour and most of us won't want that. Or there are services that will "invite" you into the country for a fee of course but they all look pretty sketchy to be honest. Maybe I was just lazy but I was kind of discerned by the lack of info I was able to find on the net.

Anyone have any Visa advice for getting into Mother Russia? Also don't forget to head south a ways from Vladivostok and visit pic related.

>>1052880
>Anyone have any Visa advice for getting into Mother Russia?

It wasn't hard at all for me. You can get a 3-year multiple entry visa, if you're American, for a couple of hundred bucks (don't remember exact price). I got that because it was just a few more bucks than a single-entry visa.

The only trick is to get an invitation. I chose to stay at a hotel that I knew could send me an invitation, only some will. They just charged me an extra $25 to do the paperwork for the invitation. There are other ways too to get an invitation, but for me, that was really easy.

Only other thing to keep in mind is to register yourself once you get into the country. I think the limit is 5 or 7 days, if you stay that amount you need to be registered. Technically, if you stay with a friend or at a hotel/hostel, they are the ones who by law need to register your visa. If they don't, they can get a big fine so most are willing to do it for you.

>>1050366
I did Ulaanbaatar -> Erenhote/Erlian/Ereen just yesterday. That's about half of the purple route on OP's map, ending on the Chinese side of the border.

It's not bad, that was one night's journey and about two hours wasting time at the border.

The train was pretty old, the hot water heaters at the end of the carriage are wood/coal burners. If you have rubbish, the attendant just throws it in the fire.

Personally, I think Mongolian food is pretty good so I was happy with the meatballs and rice and stuff that I got on the train but they do have instant noodles and stuff for sale on the train too.

I spent most of the night drinking vodka and eating horse meat with the mongolians in my cabin. Went quick enough.

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>>1053619 (You)
Hot water heater, circa 1965

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>>1053622 (You)
These are some pics from my last trip on the same train, going the other way

This was my cabin. Four bed cabin obviously, not the two bed one anon recommends.

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>>1053626
I bought the liquour at duty free when I crossed the border and some cheap vodka from a corner store. It made a good black russian and I and some Mongolian ladies I met drank the night away. The noodles etc were theirs, I ate train food with spiced meatballs that was pretty good.

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>>1053628
And this was from yesterday, one of the mongolian guys has a herd of horse and sheep and he hates Chinese good so he brought a container of roast horse to eat while he was in China, after I shared the good vodka I had bought, he shared his meat and we liked it.

I'm russian and i'd like to have such a trip too. May be this summer.

Did Moscow-Beijing one month ago. Definitely recommend traveling platskart (3rd class) only. This way it will be an adventure, you will meet russians and not just other travelers. From all the stories I heard from other People doing the trip 3rd class is also safer than 2nd class since there is always someone watching. Russians are super friendly and helpful btw. I spend like 450 for the Tickets.

Ticket price rises with every stop you make. But you should definitely do some. Otherwise you will go mental on the train.

For stops I d recommend Perm or yekaterinburg (use these cities at a base to explore the Ural if you want). And definitely Irkutsk. From there you can explore the amazing lake baikal. You should also consider Some days on Olkhon island which is like 4 Hours from irkutsk. Besides that one stop in a small russian city would prolly be nice.

If you are planning on doing the trans mongolian route take at least one weak off the train in mongolia to discover the country with a Mini bus.

Obviously its nice to have some days in moscow and Beijing to explore these crazy metropoles.

Realrussia is a pretty good Website/Company to book Tickets and they also help you with the Visa. (They will send you an invitation for free if you book through them)

I loved the Train Journey and all the crazy experiences I made. I am definitely planning on going a 2nd Time some day. Most likely vladiwostok to St Petersburg, but thats just because I already saw Beijing and mongolia now. I think the Trans mongolian Route is definitely the best for a First time trip since its so diverse.

Train Life is obviously kinda boring but thats what I loved about it. Just read, stare out of the window, listen to music, have good conversations with yourtravel mates or some crazy russians. Aaaaand a lot of instant soup.

Hope this was somehow helpful